Windows Phone 8 Apollo detailed by SVP

A video appears to have been leaked which depicts none other than Windows Phone manager and senior vice president Joe Blfiore, this video intended for Nokia’s eyes only and to show off Windows Phone 8. This newest update is what we’ve been calling Windows Phone Apollo thus far as a code-name, it coming after the Tango update which will still be working under Windows Phone 7. This video was uncovered by Evan Blass of PocketNow and the details are juicy!

The name Windows Phone 8 does not share the number by accident with the Windows 8 software that’s popping up on desktops and tablets galore this year. Instead we’ll see a setup that will look very similar to those selections in its User Interface and will allow developers to “reuse — by far — most of their code” when they want to port applications from one to the other. The kernel, security, networking stacks, and multimedia support will be heavily overlapping in many ways. Zune’s desktop client will be dropped in favor of a much more dedicated companion application and ActiveSync will be pumped up to compensate.

As far as games go, the Xbox Companion app will be given a partner client in the desktop version of Windows 8. Skydrive will allow you to share seamlessly (FINALLY) between devices, and such examples as a music collection being instantly available on a new Windows Phone without the need for a PC sync – streaming, that is. App-to-app communication will be coming to life in a much more real way, Skype hooking into the operating system allowing for nearly perfect non-VoIP-like telephone action.

The camera on your Windows Phone will have a basic camera application that can be skinned by OEMs or third party groups wanting to make new camera applications. These apps will fall in line and very possibly be better than the camera selection already available in the 100,000 apps that’ll be in the Marketplace at the launch of Windows Phone 8 – we’ll see about that when the time comes. Native code support will be in play as well, this making it easier to make more powerful applications and bring a great ease to the porting of code on the whole.

In the hardware department, scale and choice will be the top words in the environment. Apollo will have support for multicore processors, high resolution displays, removable microSD card storage, and a whole lot more (tailored to finally compete with their biggest competitors in specs, iPhone and Android.) NFC will be supported, tap-to-share will be a reality, and sharing will be a much more integrated experience on the whole. Can’t wait to see what’s really in store!